The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) is dedicated to protecting the Constitution by restoring the civil rights of registrants and their families. In order to achieve that objective, ACSOL will educate and litigate as well as support or oppose legislation. The ACSOL website and recordings are provided as a service to registrants, registrants’ families, and others for general information only. The information on the website and in the recordings are not designed to provide legal or other advice or to create an attorney-client relationship. You should not take, or refrain from taking, action based on their content. Prior results and case studies do not guarantee a similar outcome in future representations. ACSOL accepts no responsibility for any loss or damages that may result from accessing or reliance on content on the ACSOL website and recordings and disclaim, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, any and all liability with respect to acts or omissions made by registrants, registrants’ families and others on the basis of content on the ACSOL website.
Important News / Announcements
General News Feed
Failure-to-Comply Arrests Reveal Flaws in Sex Offender Registries
In one Pennsylvania county, more than three times as many people on the registry were charged in 2016 with failing to follow registry requirements than were charged with a new sexual offense. Full Article
MA: Court: Board needs proof in sex offender reclassification
[thesunchronicle.com - 8/1/18] BOSTON (AP) — The Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board has the burden of proof when determining whether a sex offender should not be moved to a less dangerous classification, the state's highest court ruled Wednesday. The Supreme Judicial Court also ruled in separate cases that indigent sex offenders have a right to legal counsel in reclassification hearings, and that those hearings...
PA: Sex predator law challenged by Cosby to get court review
Pennsylvania's highest court will consider whether the state can lawfully designate certain sex offenders as sexually violent predators, as it's seeking to do in the case of Bill Cosby. Cosby's attorneys also are challenging the constitutionality of the law. But the state Supreme Court's decision Tuesday to review the statute was made in response to an appeal by the state in a different case,...
MD: State funding to go toward ensuring sex offender compliance
The Frederick County Sheriff's Office will soon receive over $24,000 from the state to help enforce Maryland sex offender registry and compliance laws. The Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention announced Tuesday that it is giving about $700,000 to help local law enforcement agencies in their sex offender registration, compliance and enforcement efforts. Full Article
MO: SB655 changes Missouri’s sex offender list
A lot of people have been talking about how Senate Bill 655 adjusts how old one must be to get married in Missouri, increasing that age to 16. Clay County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Shannon Ryser said that is only one portion of the bill. He added that a portion also is dedicated to the sex offender registration list. "There is a much larger portion...
Bermuda: Recommendations To Deal With Sex Offenders
“All convicted sexual offenders should be required to participate in a mandatory treatment program prior to their release,” was one of the recommendations contained in the Parliamentary Joint Select Committee Sex Offender Register report. Full Article
Singapore: Unofficial sex-offender registry raises risk of vigilantism
[straitstimes.com - 7/26/18] The unofficial registry of convicted sex offenders is nothing more than harassment and more punishment for former offenders who have already served their time (Unofficial registry of sex offenders draws mixed views; July 15). It needs to be removed so that people who have this stigma attached to their name can have a hope of living a normal, law-abiding life, just...
OH: Springfield Township man claims Ohio’s sex offender parole law won’t allow visits with son
A Springfield Township man filed a federal lawsuit challenging Ohio’s sex offender parole law as unconstitutional because it forbids him from seeing his 14-year-old son. Full Article Related https://reason.com/blog/2018/07/30/sex-offender-status-prevents-dad-from-se
HI: Dozens of sex predators registered as living in Oahu parks
Hawaii's sex offender registry is meant to keep people safe by requiring convicted sex criminals to submit their address to an online database. On the site, the public can check to see if a sex offender lives nearby. But a Hawaii News Now investigation has revealed some alarming gaps in the system, including vague addresses and dozens of convicted sex predators living places where you hope...
NY: Critics say pardons will give sex offenders access to schools
[timesunion.com - 7/24/18] ALBANY — Schools are generally off-limits for sex offenders, but not when it comes times to vote. A carveout in the state's criminal trespass laws allows sex offenders to enter a school for the specific purpose of voting, including school district votes and other government elections, where the school is the polling site. The issue has jumped into the public's consciousness...
ICE arrests 2K child predators, skit compares it to ISIS
[onenewsnow.com - 7/23/18] ICE arrests 2After comedian Michelle Wolf compared the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to the Islamic terrorist group ISIS on a parody video, former ICE Director Thomas Homan condemned the skit and pointed out how the agency has “arrested over 2,000 child predators,” along with thousands of other depraved criminals. Joining the ICE attack bandwagon Wolff – who hosts...
House Judiciary Committee Falsely Claims Credit For Stopping 90% Of All Sex Trafficking Because Of FOSTA
[techdirt.com - 7/24/18] For no clear reason at all, the Republicans* on the House Judiciary Committee released a video on YouTube earlier this week praising themselves for stopping online sex trafficking via FOSTA/SESTA. It's... quite something. The video makes a number of blatantly false claims from various members of the House Judiciary, but let's focus mainly on the claims of Ann Wagner, whose original...
MA: Board wants Cosby deemed a sexually violent predator
[bostonherald.com - 7/25/18] Disgraced comic icon Bill Cosby will have to register as a sex offender in Massachusetts if he returns to his sprawling Shelburne Falls estate — and state and local authorities say they will be watching for him, the Herald has learned. Pennsylvania’s Sexual Offenders Assessment Board recommended to a judge yesterday that Cosby be declared a “sexually violent predator.” But the...
EXPERT: CRIME REGISTRIES TURN PEOPLE INTO PARIAHS WITH ‘VERY LITTLE TO LOSE’
... While public sex offender registries are now required by federal law, other registries for people who have committed certain types of crimes—such as domestic violence or drug-related crimes—are on the rise. They are seen by some victims’ rights advocates as a way to protect the community. But, criminal justice advocates argue that the registries are just another way to assert control over people...
ME: Strong board grapples with sex-offender housing limits
[sunjournal.com - 7/21/18] STRONG — Selectmen are facing a request from townspeople to prohibit registered sex offenders from living in specific areas of town. The request was made after a group of people alerted town officials that a resident at Valley Brook housing on Main Street is a lifetime registrant on the Sex Offender Registry. The housing complex is next to Strong Elementary School....
PA: Judge upends sex offender registration
WEST CHESTER >> A Common Pleas Court judge has ruled that a West Goshen man convicted of forcing himself sexually on a sleeping woman will not have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. In an order signed July 10, Judge Anthony Sarcione found that the law that defendant ____ ____ was required to report to state police as...
MO: Is your neighbor a convicted sex offender? Hundreds are missing in Jackson County
Jackson County has more convicted sex offenders than any county in Missouri. And hundreds of them are unaccounted for, posing a serious threat to public safety. Full Article
IN: Detectives track down unregistered sex offenders
In a subterranean office at the Charles “Bud” Meeks Center for Justice, a small band of Allen County Sheriff's Department detectives spend hours tracking convicted sex offenders. Full Article
WA: Aging sex offenders on McNeil Island needed 557 medical trips last year
Serving the medical needs of an aging population civilly committed to the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island means more doctor appointments and costs. The off-island trips for care, for a time, were starting to mean a decline in actual sex-offender treatment. Full Article
Emotional Support Group Meetings in 2018
Emotional Support Group meetings will be held on the following dates--usually the fourth Saturday of each month--for those convicted of a sex offense and their loved ones. Meetings are based upon 12-step principles and are led by a mental health professional. Meetings are held at: ACLU Building 1313 W. 8th Street Los Angeles There is free underground parking. Meetings start promptly at 10 a.m....